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While the impending doom of election results looms over the United States, you can still have a little fun! Just kidding about the doom, maybe, a little. But I’m not kidding about the fun. How fun are these candy-coated “vote” Oreos? Perfect for your election day party (do people have those?), to give out at the office (minus political opinions, please), or bring some down to your wonderful poll workers on voting day!

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #Hefty4BoxTops #CollectiveBias

Even though it feels like Summer just started, I’m already in Back to School mode. It really sneaks up on you. I try to get ahead of myself and shop early for new wardrobes, shoes, and of course school supplies. I also start building up our Box Tops for Education collection, so we can bring them in when school starts again. We have been at the same school since my oldest was in Kindergarten, and I love how hard the PTA works to fund music and art programs that our kids wouldn’t have otherwise. I do everything I can to support them, and collecting Box Tops is one of the easiest ways to do it.

A new year of school brings on a lot of stress for me because my oldest has a lot of developmental issues, and although he functions well enough to be in a regular classroom, he can sometimes be difficult for a teacher with 30+ other kids to handle. After having a bad experience with one teacher, every year now I spend the first few weeks of school trying to get to know his new teacher, and helping the teacher get to know us, and making sure to be available for any issues that may arise before the first round of parent-teacher conferences. This year I’m going to be more proactive with a “Getting to Know Me” Back to School gift for the teacher.

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #NaturalGoodness #CollectiveBias

Years ago on my journey to a greener lifestyle, I made a lot of changes. Along the way I realized that not only did we need to reduce the impact we left on the Earth, but we also needed to reduce the impact that we left on ourselves. The more I read the labels on the products we used, the more I wanted to stop using them! As I said before, it was a gradual change in our house. I would have met a lot of resistance if I just threw all of the toxic things in our house away and started over.

My best advice for making big changes to your lifestyle, is to take it one step at a time. In the case of detoxifying your home, take it one room at a time. [Read more…]

Elsa is a little easier because you only need to make one bundle of yarn and one braid. I found the most amazing yarn for her hair at Michael’s. It is called Red Heart Shimmer Yarn in Ivory. It’s an off-white with a little bling! It screamed “Elsa” at me as I was browsing through the yarn aisle.

It’s officially Fall! It’s hotter than heck here in Southern California, but I’m still knee-deep in Autumn-themed crafting. Because even though I’m sweating my butt off behind the glue gun, it’s still my favorite time of the year for decorating. Since my children are still obsessed with the movie Frozen, I felt like I had to somehow fit that into our decor. And after finding the absolute perfect yarn at Michael’s, The Elsa and Anna Pumpkins came to be!

I started with Anna because I thought she would be easier. The yarn I found for her hair is Lion’s Pride Woolspun in Mahogany – it looks very brown on the site but does have a reddish tone in person. It’s not cheap, but if you have a coupon you can get it for a good price.

The Pumpkins are Sugar Pumpkins from Trader Joe’s, ($1.99 each.) I grabbed the biggest ones I could find. The longer the stem is, the easier it will be to attach the yarn, so keep that in mind when you’re shopping for your pumpkins!

Wrap the yarn around the pumpkin three times. (DON’T CUT.) That is the length of yarn you’ll want. Unwrap it from the pumpkin and fold the yarn to make a second strand of the same length. Then fold again to make a third strand of the same length. Repeat 25 to 30 times until you have a big bundle of yarn “hair.”

Anna has bangs, so we need to repeat this step with a shorter length. I used the length from the top of the pumpkin to the bottom, then made a smaller bundle the same way I made the long one.

Place the small bundle directly on top of the big one, making sure to line up the middle as best as possible. Then just tie them together loosely.

Next you’re going to kind of flip the loop so that it will go over the pumpkin stem. Make sure the short bundle is on one side and the long one is on the other side.

Now it’s time for a haircut! Start by cutting off all of the loops and shaping the front into bangs. At this point it’s just a rough outline of the bangs and doesn’t need to be perfect.

Next, cut all of the loops off from the long bundle.

Divide it in half and braid each half. One per side. It’s okay if the back isn’t covered, it won’t be showing!

Tie a piece of yarn a couple of times around the ends of the braids to finish them off.

Last of all, Trim the ends of the braids and the bangs so that they’re nice and even.

Join in on the Madness!

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Angela has been writing since she could hold a crayon. These days she writes from her living room amidst the chaos of a house that looks like it was visited by a tornado of toys and clothes. When she's not saying "keep your body parts off of your brother," she enjoys cooking gourmet meals for the harshest seven-year-old food critic in town, tuning out the blasting volume of the television, traveling all over the country with and without her family, and running through a Lego obstacle course with bare feet. Read More…